by West, Shay
“So where is she from then?” Jennifer asked.
Alex sighed. “This style of dress was popular in Spain and Italy mostly. European dress and hair was a little different but it’s possible she could be from Europe.”
Jennifer snorted. “So she could be Spanish, Italian, or maybe even European. Doesn’t help much.”
“But at least we have a relative time period to work with. It’s better than what we had before. And her olive skin and dark hair means that she is most likely from Spain or Italy,” Alex jumped up and shut down the computer. “Let’s get to the theater.”
The girls ate lunch as they watched the students read lines from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Alex wished she had the confidence to stand up there in front of complete strangers and perform. She had to admit that it looked like fun.
Alex and Jennifer began to lose interest in the tryouts and were whispering about the girl in the mirror when a sudden shouting from the stage made them jump.
“What do you mean, she isn’t here?” A tall thin man with a goatee stood with his hands on his hips, glaring at a girl standing in front of him.
“She said she didn’t want to do the play,” she whispered.
The man dramatically threw up his hands. “Well, that’s just great.” He stormed off the stage and passed by where Alex and Jennifer sat in stunned silence.
He stopped and spun toward the girls. “You. Come here.” He pointed to Alex and snapped his fingers.
Alex just sat there with her mouth open. Jennifer was shoving her to get out of the seat. “Stop that!” Alex hissed.
“He wants you to follow him!” Jennifer said.
“How do you know he wants me? He could just as easily meant you!”
“He pointed right at you, silly!”
The man reached the stage and when he saw Alex wasn’t behind him he shouted, “You there with the green shirt. Stage. Now.”
Alex wondered if he was going to berate her for talking during the tryouts. She was aware of all eyes on her as she walked slowly to the stage. God, I hope I don’t fall on my butt in front of everyone.
“Come. Stand right here.” The man pointed to the floor. When Alex was in position, he handed her a couple sheets of paper. “Let me set the mood. You are a servant of the fairy queen Titania. You are being asked to wait upon a man called Bottom.”
Alex couldn’t breathe. She backed away, shaking her head. “I can’t do this. I was only here to watch…”
“Nonsense.” The man took her by the elbow and moved her back into position. “You have the perfect coloring for the costume and since you are about the same size as the girl that was supposed to be wearing it, you are perfect to play the part of Mustardseed.”
The man clapped and the other students took their places. Alex was terrified. She wondered if she could make herself faint so that she could get out of having to do this.
“Start from the end of Act III. Places people!”
Oh God oh God oh God. Alex hoped someone would pinch her and she would wake up laying on her desk or something. She broke out into a cold sweat and felt rather certain that she was going to vomit.
“Okay, enter fairies!”
Three people flitted across the stage, their feet making tiny movements. They stopped in front of a girl who stood looking proud and haughty.
“We seem to be missing a fairy.” The man said.
“Oh, yes, sorry.” She walked across the stage.
“Oh for heaven’s sake!” The man threw down his papers and clomped up the stairs to the stage. “When you picture a delicate fairy moving, do you honestly picture it plodding along like this?” He imitated Alex’s ponderous movements across the stage, complete with hunched shoulders.
“I guess not,” Alex mumbled, shuffling her feet.
“Fairies are light as air and graceful.” He tiptoed across the stage, feet moving so quickly that Alex thought he would trip and fall on his face. His arms waved about, and he smiled as if perfectly happy and content with life.
“To act like a fairy you must become the fairy. Move like them, talk like them.” He clapped and the three students came to stand by Alex again, rolling their eyes at her as if she were the most thickheaded person on the planet.
“Let’s try this again. And let’s try to get it right this time people.”
This time when he clapped, Alex tried her very best to flit across stage like the other students, bending and moving her arms, like she was dancing across the stage. This is impossible! She came to a stop in front of a tall girl with fiery red hair.
One of the students next to her spoke. “Ready!”
“And I.”
“And I.”
The girl with the red hair glared hard at Alex. She looked at her paper, looking for her line. “And, ummm, I.”
The man groaned. “Take it again people.”
They had to do the scene at least a dozen times before the drama teacher was happy with it. Alex tried telling them she was obviously no good and they would have to find someone else, but the teacher insisted that she really was perfect for the part, she just needed to forget about being embarrassed or looking ridiculous in front of other people and get into character.
“When you pretend to be ‘cool’ in front of other people, are you not acting? You try to move a certain way and speak a certain way. This is no different. We even give you the lines to say. You just have to get into character and say them.” The man refused to take no for an answer and made them do the scene repeatedly. By about the eighth time through Alex forgot about the people watching and was actually beginning to let loose and have fun. When she spoke her lines, she remembered how well Veronica Franco’s voice had carried across the courtyard. Alex tried to emulate that and to speak loud and clear so her voice would carry to the back of the room.
“Very good voice, Alex. That’s the way to do it.” She blushed at the compliment and even a few of the other students gave her grudging nods.
When tryouts were done, the teacher announced who would be playing what parts and handed them all their lines and rehearsal schedules. Amy was given the part of Hermia. She squealed when her name was called and she hugged Alex.
“I can’t believe he just picked you out of the crowd like that! But you did good,” Amy said.
“Just ‘good’?”
Amy smiled. “This was your first time. Everyone is always stiff and awkward at first. But once you let go and stop worrying, everything falls into place.”
Alex gave her a strange look. “Umm…you are talking about acting, right?”
Amy punched Alex in the arm. “Yes, I am talking about acting. Sheesh.”
When Alex heard her name called for the part of Mustardseed she groaned. What have I gotten myself into?
Jennifer gushed about the tryouts. Alex felt bad she was now in the play. Jennifer blew it off. “Oh please! The last thing I want to do is have all my free time taken up with this. It’s bad enough just studying.”
Alex looked down at the large notebook that contained the entire play and sighed. She needed all the help she could get.
CHAPTER 23
ALEX WAS PLEASED to learn her character had just a few lines in the entire play. That alone gave her the courage to show up at rehearsals and dance across the stage night after night. She just kept telling herself that the audience would be paying attention to the main characters and not to her.
Her mother had been shocked but pleased when Alex announced her part in the school play. Of all of the extracurricular activities she pictured her daughter doing while in high school, drama was not one of them.
“It was an accident. The teacher made me go on stage and read the lines. It just sorta happened.” Alex shrugged it off and tried to make light of it.
Patricia and Karen would hear none of it. Karen wanted all of the information about the play so she could make a flyer to hang in the window of the store. She told every customer that came through the doors that her ni
ece was in a play, and asked if they wanted to buy a ticket for opening night.
Alex tried to tell her mother and aunt that her part wasn’t really a big deal, and she was on stage a total of maybe twenty minutes but they didn’t care. There was even talk of trying to find the old video camera. Alex groaned and wished she had stayed in the library that day instead of agreeing to watch Amy during her tryout.
Simon and Paul were insufferable about the whole thing. Every time they spotted Alex and Amy, they put their hands to their faces, batted their eyes, and danced around the room, eliciting laughter from the other students. They did not seem to care if they were in a classroom, lunchroom, or even outside. Alex told Amy that if they simply ignored the boys, they would grow bored and stop.
But they didn’t.
Soon, even Alex began to smile when they would begin their antics. Finally, in a desperate attempt to make them quit, Amy and Alex jumped up and played along with them. Alex had no idea where this bravery came from but it felt good to let loose and be silly and not care.
The class applauded and she and Amy bowed mockingly, pretending they were catching the flowers being showered upon them by their adoring fans. Simon and Paul doubled over in laughter. I might just make it through this play after all.
Alex found that she was actually looking forward to the first night of dress rehearsal. She just stayed at school rather than go all the way home and then have someone drive her all the way back. Amy stayed with her and the two girls walked across the street to the Dairy Queen to grab a bite to eat for dinner.
“I’m so excited for tonight! The first time in costume,” Amy said, taking a large bite out of her burger.
“I know. I can’t wait to see how everyone looks.”
The theater was a madhouse. There were people everywhere. Amy and Alex found their costumes and got changed. Alex loved her costume. It was a dress made of pale yellow fabric covered in yellow tulle. The bottom edge was jagged, as were the sleeves. There was a belt made of gold medallions cinched tight around her waist and a delicate circle of gold for her hair. She decided to leave it flying free instead of pulling it up like she had originally wanted. Alex usually had her hair bundled up but it made her feel more in character to have her tresses flowing down her back. Her hair had grown a lot since she had come to Grand Junction, and she found she rather liked having long hair. I only wish it was a prettier color than brown.
Alex stared around her in wonder at the others who were already dressed. It was as if the play was actually coming to life before her eyes. Mr. Reardon called for places and the students quieted to a low buzz. Alex felt her pulse quicken. Oh, calm down. It’s just dress rehearsal.
Most of the props had also been brought out so the stage really seemed to come to life. The music played and the lights were set up. When it came time for Alex and the other three students to make their appearance, Alex actually felt like she was a delicate fairy, bathed in golden light, happy to be attending the lovely Titania.
When they finished the first run through, Mr. Reardon applauded them all and seemed very pleased with their performances. But he had them go through several scenes to tighten them up. Alex was fascinated with the process. Mr. Reardon seemed to know when a student needed to turn a bit more to the left or right, or when a prop needed to be shifted ever so slightly to give the stage that final touch, or if the lighting needed to be dimmed or brightened. He was so happy with the very first dress rehearsal that he offered to take them all to Dairy Queen for ice cream.
As Alex changed out of her costume and looked at all the happy, smiling girls, she finally felt like she had found a place she belonged. It was strange to have found that place on the stage. Everyone here was so nice to her and accepted her for who she was.
And best of all, there was no Catelyn Montgomery to make her life miserable.
As she and Amy went to DQ for the second time that night, Alex felt a growing sense of camaraderie. One of the girls mentioned that they would be doing a play over at Mesa State College as a summer production for those students who were interested.
“Want to try out with me?” Amy looked at Alex hopefully.
“Why not?” She still couldn’t believe that she was agreeing to try out for a second play. She had been so certain that once this one was done she would never want to set foot on stage again. But she found that she enjoyed playing someone else for an evening and losing herself in the other character, losing touch with reality. When she was on stage, she forgot about her problems with Catelyn and hating her father and homework and boys and the strange girls in the mirror.
Nothing else mattered.
Alex found she rather liked that.
CHAPTER 24
“COME ON, ALEX! I really need help. I was so busy with baseball practice and everything,” Beau whined.
Alex rolled her eyes. She had been “helping” Beau Johnson with his homework for so many months now, and it was beginning to grow old. She had been busy too, with her own school work, rehearsals, and working at her aunt’s store. The opening show was only a few days away and Mr. Reardon had been working them three nights a week and half the day Saturday.
The two were sitting outside, enjoying one of the first warm days of early March. The sun was shining and the sky was a perfect shade of blue, marred only by the passing of a few white clouds.
“Please?” He pushed her with his shoulder.
Where his smiles had once been able to turn her knees into jelly, they were now beginning to irritate her. The only time he was ever nice to her was when he needed help with his homework. Help my ass! He just wants me to do it all for him!
“I’ve been busy too, ya know. And I manage to get all my work done,” she said, trying to ignore him. She was finishing a take-home quiz for history about the Roman emperor Gaius, also known as Caligula. Alex loved Roman history, especially information about the emperors. There had been so many of them and they each had their own distinct personalities. But they all ruled the empire and had control of the armies of Rome. Alex shuddered at the thought of one man having complete control of the United States. That’s too much power for one man to have.
“But you’re so much better at this crap than I am.”
“You might be good at it too, if you’d try as hard at actually doing the work as trying to talk me into doing it for you.” Alex was surprised at hearing the words come out of her mouth. She had never been one to stick up for herself.
“Come on,” Beau pouted. He grumbled and groaned but he eventually took out his biology book and opened the page to the section about the organelles of the cell. After only a few minutes of staring blankly at the pages, he slammed it shut. “I just don’t get this stuff.”
“You have to actually read the material and study it before you’ll ‘get’ it.” Alex knew that he was never going to leave her alone to get her own work done. She closed her history book and grabbed her biology book. She was annoyed at how fast he perked up when he saw her grab the book.
“I’m going to help you, understand? H.E.L.P.” She spelled the word to get it through his thick skull.
She made him open his book and forced him to read the questions from the end of the chapter. When he would grimace and say he didn’t know the answer she would direct him to the page to read to get the answer rather than just telling him what it was.
Beau didn’t seem to like this idea at all and he fussed and pleaded until Alex shrugged and put her book away. What has gotten into me? It was as if someone else were controlling her. She smiled. It felt good.
“Alright, I’ll do it your way.” He grabbed the book again and slowly read the paragraph about the plasma membrane. He then wrote the answer down and read the second question. Alex told him where to find the answer and he managed to hold his temper in check as he read through the appropriate section to find it.
When he finished the homework, he whined that his head was going to explode.
“Stop being such a baby. What you’re fe
eling is probably brain cells awakening for the first time.” Alex grabbed her things and went inside for her first afternoon class.
“Did I just see you make the great Beau Johnson actually do his own work?” Jennifer stood in mock amazement and shock.
“Ha ha,” Alex said.
“I never thought I’d see the day. And to think, it only took you most of the school year to figure it out.”
Alex didn’t want to admit to Jennifer that she had been right all along. Alex was surprised to feel a flash of sadness. She wondered if he would ask for her help anymore. Even though he annoyed the hell out of her, she still dreamed about what it would be like to go on a date, hold hands, and maybe even share a goodnight kiss. The thought of kissing his perfect mouth still made her heart and stomach flutter. I wouldn’t be surprised if he never speaks to me again.
She did not harbor any serious thoughts that he might actually ask her out. Even though he claimed he needed a break from Catelyn, they were still inseparable as far as Alex could see. They held hands in the halls, ate lunch together almost every day, whispered together in class.
Even with all of this, Alex thought it was really bizarre that Catelyn still insisted she leave Beau alone. It was maddening. Alex wondered if the girl was entirely right in the head.
She didn’t have time to waste thinking of Beau and his crazy girlfriend. The opening night of the play was only a few weeks away and she still had an impending trip through the mirror to worry about.
CHAPTER 25
DRIFTER STOOD IN his usual position in front of his Master. The man had sent for him and Drifter was waiting for him to speak.
“You say that while at the trial for Veronica Franco, the old man had obviously been told about her arrest as he was waiting in the court room.”
“Yes.” The man knew better than to waste time with chitchat.
“Then he must have overheard you speaking to the High Inquisitor.”
